Robot Bird: A simple, stripped-down, free Twitter client for ICS

One of the things that really bugs me about my Galaxy Nexus is using apps that have yet to be optimized for Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) — basically, using the new action bar in place of the menu button. I just hate seeing that little menu button down in the navigation bar. Don’t even get me started on apps that have been optimized to use the action bar yet still have the damn menu button show up.

With the official Twitter app yet to be optimized I’ve found myself looking for alternatives that have. My search lead me to an app named Robot Bird. While currently lacking a lot of features, the developer (@briangriffey) is very responsive to feedback and app suggestions. The app only supports a timeline and mentions right now (they are are accessed by swiping to the left), and it also lacks notifications of any kind.

A minor niggle I have is that there’s no time stamp on Tweets so when I come to wearily sift through them each morning I have no idea how much time has occurred between each of them. You can however, view photos in-line in the stream, which is a feature of all the Twitter clients that I love.

It’s unclear whether the app will become a full featured Twitter client or not, although many of its users would like it to be. It’s currently described on the Play Store as a “stripped down Twitter client” so we’ll have to see what the future holds. Regardless it’s free so worth a try — the whole app is incredibly smooth and beautiful looking.

If you’re looking for an Android 4.0 optimized Twitter app and don’t mind giving up some features, then Robot Bird is your answer. The developer also says he’s working on a tablet version too, although that version will be a paid app.